


Sunshine and Shadow

by ReyesSinfulThighs



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Romance, Bad Spanish, Blind Character, Blind Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Canon Gay Character, Disabled Character, Getting Back Together, Grumpy Old Men, Idiots in Love, M/M, Making Up, Reaper | Gabriel Reyes Has Issues, Regret, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21697834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReyesSinfulThighs/pseuds/ReyesSinfulThighs
Summary: The angsty, romantic, out-of-character Reaper76 reunion content that all of us deserved
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes & Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison
Comments: 4
Kudos: 75





	Sunshine and Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> This is my interpretation of what would happen when Jack and Gabriel met for the first time after the explosion - not canon, but the ways things SHOULD have gone. Let me know whether you agree ;) 
> 
> PS - I'm a native English speaker, so correct my Spanish if it's wrong, I Beg You. Also comments mean a lot to me, but be nice because I have daddy issues and crave only approval. In addition I have a praise kink so absolutely anything nice you have to say means the world :))
> 
> And I felt clever, including hella symbolism, so let me know whether you noticed!!

Jack was blind.  


When Gabriel had heard, he hadn't been surprised. What surprised him was finding out Jack was alive and walking. The explosion had damaged them both pretty badly; Gabriel had "died", strictly speaking, and come back as the smoke-and-shadow monster called Reaper. To hear Jack was blind was a reality Gabriel didn't want to think about. That Jack wanted to speak to him after finding out they had both "survived" was what Gabriel dreaded most.  


Gabriel had seen the scars on Jack's face - the jagged, cruel slash that cut from his hairline to his mid-cheekbone on the opposite side of his face, the strip from his lower cheek to his chin and through his lip. He wonders what Jack thinks of them. He'll never ask. For the longest time, they were the reason Gabriel couldn't look his old friend in the face - not the blue eyes which were still piercing, still clever, still deep and intuitive and which always seemed to see right through you, which always held such a sparkle even when Jack was serious, even when they were in danger - a sparkle of hope.  


It had taken Gabriel twice as long to get over his fear of looking Jack in the eyes. He'd expected accusation, hatred, disgust, even fear, and that would have hurt like hell - but forgiveness would have killed him. He thought he'd been prepared, but the sight of them shocked him all the same. Jack's eyes were still beautiful, still piercing, like an Indiana summer sky in mid-afternoon (all the days they lay out in the sun in the dying grass, Jack whining that he couldn't tan like Gabriel, Gabriel pestering him about sunscreen and staying in the shade, Gabriel kissing every single freckle on Jack's tan face and arms until Jack was begging with tears streaming down the sides of his face for Gabe to PLEASE stop tickling, their laughter echoing over empty miles of wheat field - empty, and so full; empty and so not alone).  


Jack's eyes were still bright with intelligence, analysis, still flickered with humor and frowned with confusion, but that sparkle was gone. The sun had left, and the sky was empty - deep, endless, empty blue. Silent. Gabriel had expected clouds - weren't the blind supposed to have cloudy eyes? To see that would have hurt Gabriel as well, to see eyes that had been faultless since birth - especially since enhancement - marred by patches of white. That they were empty was so much worse. Gabriel would have welcomed clouds, clouds he could hide behind. He would have welcomed anything to fill that emptiness. He would have welcomed thunderheads, dark and vicious and crackling with electricity - dangerous. If Jack would only HATE him like Gabriel deserved, if he would only want him dead or try to kill him or spit in his eyes and tear him apart and make Gabriel hurt - but there was nothing. Jack had never valued revenge like Gabe had. He had always believed in hope. A hope for better. That was the sparkle, the sun that guided Jack Morrison, the sun that kept Gabriel Reyes out of the dark.  


Now the sun was gone, and the skies were empty. Jack stood still, regarding the Reaper slowly, and Gabriel felt for all the world that Jack could see through the mask, through the Reaper, through Gabriel's eyes and into Gabriel's soul. His heart. Gabriel had fallen apart in front of Jack before, but this was nothing like that. They hadn't spoken in so, so long, but Gabriel guessed that Jack still knew exactly what he was thinking.  


"Gabriel."  


Gabriel waited. Waited for more. Waited for Jack to start shouting, to stride towards him, to reach for his pulse rifle. He watched for Jack's face to change, those killer blue eyes to spit fire again, that scar to shift with his scowl and make him look more demon than human. 

Neither moved.  


Each stood silent, still, waiting, and after what felt like years of staring into those eyes Gabriel realized that was it. Jack was waiting for him to say something.  


¡dime algo, idiota!  


"Sunshine."  


Something shifted behind Jack's eyes. He didn't speak immediately, but Gabriel watched his lips. The scar.  


La pelota está en tu cancha ahora.  


"What can you see?"  


That threw Gabriel. "What?"  


Jack hesitated, then stepped forward. Without thinking, Gabriel stepped back. Jack stopped. Gabriel cursed internally.  


"I saw that," Jack continued. His mouth didn't twitch with a smile and his voice didn't tremble the way it used to before he told a joke, but Gabriel waited for Jack to laugh. A lot had changed. Those little things were probably long gone with the sun.  


"I did. Heard it, too, better than I saw it; but I saw anyway." Jack took another step, and Gabriel didn't back up this time, but every muscle in his body stiffened.  


"I see movement, and color. Everything's blurry without the visor, but I still see 'em. Visor tints everything red. Like Cyclops from those antique comics Granddad gave to Mom. I used to keep those in a display case in my room, remember? Even after I left for the army, Mom kept them there for me. Remember how you used to tease me for 'em? 'Jesus, you're a grown man, Jackie. 'Sides, who needs Stan Lee's freaks in tights when you got a real superhero right here?'"  


Gabriel cringed hard. He wanted to back up; Jack was coming slow and sure too close for comfort. A hero of any kind was the last word he'd use to describe himself now.  


"You remember?"  


Gabriel nodded without thinking. He started to correct it, but Jack's eyes had followed. He cleared his throat.  


"Everything's dark now. I couldn't read those comics even if I knew where the hell they'd gotten to. Probably some attic, or storage unit, or some old collector's shelf collecting dust. There's a lot of things I've had to let go of that I wish I could've held onto longer; for some reason, those comics always come to mind."  


Gabriel swallowed hard, and it sounded loud even to him; someone in the next room could've heard it, let alone a blind man two feet in front of him.  


"So that's what I see. Dark and light. Shape and shadow. Black and white. Nothing fancy, but it's enough. I see the Reaper-"  


Gabriel flinched.  


"-in that mask. And that coat. Your voice- this-" Now Jack was right in front of him, and reached up slowly to feel the collar. "This isn't Gabriel."  


Gabriel finally found his voice; when it scraped from his throat, it was hoarse. "I'm no hero from your comics anymore, Jack."  


Jack frowned. Gabriel stayed still. He was terrified of Jack's proximity, and terrified that Jack would move away. He couldn't explain it, but somehow he knew that this was the biggest turning point he'd faced in all his life. Whatever happened here, now, decided the future of Gabriel Reyes. He was afraid to move. He was afraid to breathe.  


"Hero?" Jack asked softly. Those eyes were fixed on his now; again, Gabriel was sure Jack was looking right through him.  


"I'm not Gabriel anymore."  


"No?"  


Gabriel opened his mouth to answer, then maybe turn and run. Jack's hand was on the tip of his mask, applying slightest pressure, and Gabriel knew what he wanted. Knew what Jack was asking for.  


"Dark and light. Shape and shadow. You're not the Reaper-"  


"I'm not Gabriel," he repeated desperately. It was a plea and a cry for help and a threat and a warning and he didn't know what else, but if Jack didn't step away then he was going to take for the last time what the Reaper couldn't give.  


"You're not shadow."  


"Jack-"  


"Not darkness."  


Gabriel's heart was pounding in his chest, faster and louder than it had been in years, almost painful.  


Siempre me has hecho esto.  


Jack leaned closer, and Gabriel stopped breathing. Then Jack pushed up the mask, and they were eye-to-eye for the first time in six years. Gabriel couldn't think, couldn't imagine what Jack must be thinking; he just hoped to God Jack knew.  


"What can you see now?"  


Gabriel paused, looked. Really looked for the first time in a long time, into the cloudless blue sky, back to summer days where laughter and birdsong were the only sounds for miles, when the twilight was breathtaking but Gabriel had eyes for only one thing. His expression collapsed, and now Jack could see Gabriel. "The sun."  


Then Jack kissed him, and Gabriel's vision danced with sunspots when he shut his eyes.


End file.
